(pan sizzling) - Hello, and welcome back to Sorted Food. Now, this is how today's gonna work. Two of our normal home
cooks, Jamie and Barry, have in front of them
an identical mystery box of seasonal ingredients. And in 40 minutes, we would like them to cook
up something delicious for this guy, who
ultimately will taste it, judge it, and pick a winner. Simple, right? - Well, easy for you to say Ebbers, you're standing on the side. Oh, and you're a chef. - And I know what's in the
box, not a mystery to me. - Game face. (dramatic music) Oh dear (laughs). It's staring right back at me. - Right, oh God, it's looking at me. (Ben laughing) - Right, okay, so first of all, we've got some dark chicken meat. Whoa! Is that a lobster or a prawn? (Ben and Barry chuckle) - It's a big old prawn,
we're giving you two of them. - Wow, okay. - Jesus. - [Barry] Sea bass? - Correct. On the other side of your box, you've got a whole bunch
of seasonal deliciousness. - [Barry] Already, as I'm unpacking this, I didn't realise all this
was part of the same season. - Summer UK season. A good chunk of it's
come from the allotment. - Oh, wait a minute. Is this a challenge for
you to get rid of the stuff in your allotment? - I've grown more than a
single man can actually eat. - Radish? - Nope. - Oh, beetroot. - I'm not sure what
sort of bugs and insects you have in your allotment because one's had a bite taken out of it. (Ben and Barry laughing) - Oh I can give you a fresh
one, that's Jamie's one. - Turnip? - Close, it's not. - Kohlrabi? We've used Kohlrabi in a Supper Club once. - You've also got a selection
of seasonal fruits behind you, and ample herbs and dairy in the fridge. We'll give you a couple
of minutes to think, then we'll clear your bench
and your time will start. - Where's the steak? - Okie dokie, you've had a think. We've pushed all the
ingredients to one side. You have 40 minutes on the
clock and your time starts in three, two, one, go. (bell dings)
- Waaah! - I'm really scared I've bitten off more than I can chew here already. I'm going for a celebration
of the British summer, a barbecue. Mainly because I haven't
had a barbecue yet 'cause it's been so bloody
miserable this summer. But I'm gonna have some roasted veg, I'm gonna have some char-grilled prawns, and a really cool, light
couscous-y salad as well. How the hell do I do this? - Kohlrabi is a beautiful ingredient. Behaves a bit like
turnip, can be eaten raw, it's great pickled, you can roast it. - I had to use it because we
don't get it in very often. - So this is where I think I'm going. Aubergine, sea bass
with fennel, and prawns, like garlic butter prawns. And then my thinking is just
like three separate dishes. - Bold, I like that. - I love miso glazed aubergine. We've done it before on the
channel and it was brilliant. I've got to get some balance here. This togarashi is spicy AF. - So there's two lots of
judging going on here. Mike is judging the final presentation, but I'm also judging you
on the option of a badge. So we know that this year
our normals are competing for skills badges. Today, we've given the choice up to you, what badge do you want to try and go for? - I'm gonna go for the obvious Ben, I'm going for a plating badge. One of the big things to look out for when you're aiming for presentation is work with seasonal veg. It's bright, it's vibrant,
and it's exciting, so it gives me the best
chance of winning it. - Ebbers, I really don't know what this is gonna lend itself to. I mean, I'm doing a lot, so
it's kind of like multitasking. Yeah, this is gonna involve
a fair bit of multitasking. So let's go multitasking. - Locked in. - I'm gonna pop that into the oven now, I don't think it's gonna
need the full 40 minutes, but at least I'll know it's done. - You mentioned barbecue. Obviously barbecue is one
of those things that exists all over the world and everyone has their own approach to it. American barbecue, south American... kind of asado barbecue
style, Korean barbecue. I think our British
barbecue is very different. A celebration of seasonal veg
and it generally tends to be quicker cooks, things
you can do on the grill. - Oven, 20 minutes. - You're five minutes in to
your 40 minute time limit. - Okay, right. Clear down, move on to the next thing. - Cooking whole fish is not my thing. I'm gonna wrap it in pandan, but I'm going to fill it with fennel. - So fennel is one of those
ingredients that I think is so underrated. At this time of year, it can
be used in so many things. It lends itself to
pickling, raw in salads. You can roast it. You can braise it. You can puree it. It does everything. In fact, we've even had the
likes of fennel ice cream when we were in the US. That aniseed flavour can be used in so many different things. - What if I wrapped the
pandan around the fish rather than stuffed it inside? Or what if I did both? - [Ben] I like the idea of sealing it in, so it doesn't fall out. - How long does sea bass take to cook? I don't know. - [Ben] Fish in a bag. - Fish in a bag. The only thing I'm thinking is this, it's gonna steam in there, so do I need to give it
something to steam with? Where better to use a premium Chablis? - Interesting use of. (upbeat music) - Sea bass is going into the oven. - My only concern is if you
don't know how long it takes to cook, there's no way of checking it without unwrapping it. And when you've unwrapped
it, you've kind of messed it. - Yes, so what we're
going to rely on is fate. - I wanna roast off a fig as well. A little bit of honey, a
little bit of black pepper on these as well. Into the oven. - You have 30 minutes remaining. - Next up massive (beep)
prawns, stroke lobsters. Going bold Ebbers. Lot of butter, gonna
melt that down, garlic, a lot of garlic, and then
I'm gonna chop the heads off, butterfly them, and then fry
them in that garlic butter. - [Ben] Platter of herbs, what's that one? (Jamie spluttering) - There's mint there. Mint's not gonna work. That one doesn't smell. That one's broken. (Ben laughing) - Is it that one's broken
or that nose is broken? That one's oregano. You've got thyme. - I think thyme and tarragon work well. - [Ben] So tarragon,
thyme, garlic, and butter. These flavours just remind me of summer. - That's my roasting element on the go. I wanna go for a giant couscous salad that's then gonna carry some
of my more delicate flavours like your runner beans, radishes, I've got shallots, and the
leaves from the beetroot as well. Be nice to get those toasting off. Brings out that nice nuttiness to those with a bit of brownness. And then I'll go in
for some chicken stock. Chop it properly Barry, come on. Presentation badge. So far I haven't got
too many time pressures. Everything should cook in time. There's one other element
that I could go for here that might be a bit bold. I'm gonna use these. - Yes! - You can fill these with
cream cheese and deep fry 'em. Give it a go! - With 25 minutes remaining
I think that element will be your time pressure
if you choose to do it, but it will be exceptional if you do. - So let's just soften that up and we are going to flavour
it with some anchovies. In my head capers and
anchovies kinda go well with the prawn as well at the end. Okay, chives. - Time wise you are fast
approaching half of your time gone. 20 minutes down, 20 minutes to go. - Okay they're browning off,
so in with some chicken stock. - An ambitious choice of
dishes and ingredients from Barry. I like that, it's very bold. As a result it's quite a
lot more messy and untidy than Jamie. - Right we need to have a chat. I'm not looking forward to this bit. - Now when the prawns are this big, and there's that much head,
and there's that much shell, save them. Cook them up, they'll
make an amazing stock, and then you could do a wonderful
sort of braised rice dish and celebrate it with
some of the other veg. Look at all that meat inside of there. That could've been cooked on the prawn, and then you've got extra meat to enjoy. As its been cut off,
we'll make sure we get it into a lovely stock. (upbeat music) - Oh what am I doing next. - [Ben] Faffing at the moment. - Okay, I need a batter. Salt, tonic water, for a light batter. - A really light batter, and if you get it right what
you should be able to see is those beautiful courgette
flowers through the batter. The challenge is to
make sure that they are sealed in with that
batter, so that the cheese doesn't ooze out in the fryer. Baz you've only got 15 minutes left. - Holy! - Aubergine was looking good. It's a bit charred, which is what I want. It's nice. Also looking slightly
dry, so I've just added a little more of my paste
thing to it, make it delicious. Butter has melted, there's
quite a lot in there, so what's gonna happen is
they're gonna half poach half fry in this butter I think. - Very organised, very tidy,
I feel like multi-tasking is going to plan. - Let's keep prepping
the veg for the salad. I'm gonna blanch these
'cause they're sweet, but they have still got a slight
onion-y harshness to them. Get all my salad ingredients in here. - With the hot couscous
they'll wilt slightly. Should be lovely. - Okay, so prawns. (upbeat music) - You got 10 minutes remaining. Right, I think the butterfly
might've cut too far through the flesh, so
rather than just opened up and kept long thin, it
has sort of opened up and curled up a little bit. - There's slightly more time
than I thought I'd have, so what is amazing is honeyed, spicy figs. So I'm gonna do that. Just cutting down nearly to the bottom. Open them up to get some flavour in there. - Togarashi figs, I like that. - I was thinking like cayenne would be a really really good way of
bringing spice to the figs, but actually why not togarashi? I've already got the
togarashi in the aubergine. - Okay, so now. - [Ben] Figs are out, roasted veg is out. - So garlic, I'm just going to
cook off in a load of butter. We have some ready-made garlic butter to dip the prawns in
afterwards for flavour. - You have six and a
half minutes remaining. Prawns are going in. - Ebbers I'm gonna have to take a gamble. Need the shelf space. And I can only imagine that that's cooked. - If it's under-cooked
the flesh won't pull away from the bone beautifully. And it'll be a real shame. - Right, plate. - [Ben] How are you choosing
to serve your sea bass? It looks steamy steamy. - [Jamie] In the paper so that it, yep. - [Ben] Nice choice. - Aubergines coming out. Nicely charred and hedge-hogged. I'm just thinking is there
like a yogurt-y thing that I could make. - You've got four minutes remaining. - [Barry] Who know
what's gonna happen here. Go down. - [Ben] Excellent job on the
batter and the courgette. Nice char on those prawns. Hot couscous going in. Takes the edge off of any
of the raw vegetables. (dramatic music) - [Jamie] Honey. - Last two minutes. In a multi-tasking badge
has he left the best things for the last few moments? - I've lost the plot. I've lost the plot. It's all gone to pot. Prawn, stop it, behave yourself. So let's plate up then. Let's go in for, where's the plate? - There is carnage everywhere. - Looks like a lovely summer-y salad. 45 seconds remaining. (dramatic music) He's aiming for a plating
and presentation badge. It's gotta taste good and
be cooked though as well. - That's come off the
top, but that's okay. - I think I'd have wanted
those drained on kitchen roll. There's a risk they're
gonna be very greasy. He's got 20 seconds remaining. And he's throwing a courgette
flower on as a garnish!?! Five, four, shame about the figs, three, two, one. (bell dinging) - Figs, a la pan. (Ben laughing) - [Ben] Is that what you had in mind? - Yeah, kind of. - Let's get them into sexies. (upbeat music) Okay Mike, you can probably
sniff an awful lot. - Oh it smells great. - In front of you you have A and B. A has been cooked by one
normal, B by the other. Both a celebration of seasonal
ingredients in 40 minutes. Have a look. - Wow! Okay, well, let's start with A. This is miso glazed and
togarashi spiced aubergine. Pandan and fennel sea bass. Monster prawns, sweet togarashi figs, fennel and honey dipping yoghurt, Right, wow. I'm just gonna dig in. I'm going for the fish first. - Pandan and fennel. - I mean it's really well
cooked in my opinion. These are jumbo prawns? Very tasty, very garlic-y. Exactly what I want from those. Ah, miso glazed aubergine
is absolutely delicious. I'm very impressed and I think it's all
cooked really really well. If I had to pick
something that I feel like was a bit of an experiment,
it would be this, but it's not a bad experiment. It hasn't turned out to be a disaster. It's actually really quite nice. Wow I am genuinely impressed by that. Ah, what I love about this already is like you can see the
same ingredients from here, but used in a completely different way. Hence why a mystery box format is so good. B, this is the best of
British indoor barbecue. King garlic prawns and
tempura courgette flowers filled with a zingy cream cheese, served on a fregola salad with
Ebbers-picked runner beans, radish, honey roasted fig,
kohlrabi, and rainbow roots. Well I don't know what
one of those things are. What's fregola? (boys laughing) I don't know what two of those things are. Well I'm going in. Boys, this is so impressive. Like it all looks delicious. Oh, that's that kohlrabi, no? - This is what happens when
you get a normal to judge. That's your cauliflower stuffed
with a zingy cream cheese, tempura battered, and fried. - A cauliflower, it's
not a courgette flower? That's why you get a normal in, because we know... Okay, right, here we go. Some twigs, you really notice those. - The thyme stalks might be a bit of an unpleasant eating experience. - Absolutely delicious again. Prawn's cooked really, really well. You actually, because of
the lack of garlic butter in comparison to the
first one, get a lot more of the charred flavour and the
flavour of the prawn itself. Let's try this tempura, ah it's got cream cheese in it as well. Here we go. - If our normal's nailed that you should get a wonderful
floral courgette flavour with creamy, zingy, tangy filling.
- You really do. This is so impressive guys. Both A and B, every single
element is cooked correctly. Nothing feels over cooked, under cooked. A, big on flavour, big on texture. B, subtle, less like embellishment of the ingredients themselves,
but cooked really well and when you eat it all together you get the variety of flavours,
textures, crunches, and you really taste
the individual elements. This is so hard. Real stand out A, miso aubergine. Absolutely stunning. Stand out B, the courgette flowers. Absolutely stunning. I'm going to go for (upbeat music) B as the winner. - Yes, come on! - I think it's fair to say that is a plate of the British summer time. So Jamie you were going for
the multi-tasking badge. You did three dishes plus
sorta dips and bits and pieces, and you kept the kitchen very very tidy as you multi-tasked. It's a no brainer, you get the badge. - Yes! - Well done mate. - Barry, you were going
for the presentation badge. (Mike oohing) I felt you were a little
rushed at the end, and the bit that you were aiming for with the presentation,
you were short on time. However, you said you were looking for the celebration of rainbow kind of allotment seasonal colours. I thought it was very inviting, and I'm giving you the badge. - Yeah! (upbeat music) - Well, over to you guys. You saw the carnage that just unfolded. Did I pick correctly. Comment down below. - And if you liked this
video then make sure you like this video, and we'll do it again where Mike can take on the winner, moi. - I am not so confident.
- Mike can take on the winner. Till next time. - [Mike] Have you ever got
to the end of a long day with no ideas, ingredients,
or energy to cook? Take away? Hmm, it'd be the fourth this week. Well that's why we built our revolutionary Meal Packs App. Thousands of people are using it to shop, cook, and eat a whole
lot better and easier, while saving money as a result. You can go and use it
in its entirety for free for a whole month and see if it's for you. The link is in the description box below. (upbeat music) And now for the blooper. (beeping) - That as a flower, it's
almost a nice touch. It's almost nice. Until the fact you've
put it in your own award. - A Guild of Food Writers award, yes. I couldn't get a vase big enough. (Barry laughing)
One dish didn't stand out more than the other, usually in these battles I have a favourite even though we aren't tasting them but not today. I did think Mike was going to choose the other dish as the winner though from his reactions!
Jamie's plating though... he Spaffed it!!!!
Bit surprised to see a plating badge when there's thyme sprigs in the dish.
Both dishes seemed great. Would’ve loved to taste them. I think the winner really deserved to win.
And that blooper. Who puts flowers in an award and then brings it to the office?!?
Have they ever said how they keep the food warm with these styles of shoots? Obviously they aren't both in the kitchen at the same time, so someone's food is going to be served colder? Or they do they judging in two instances? But sometimes the plates are side by side? Something that has bothered me lately watching these videos.
Both of those dishes looked incredible, I definitely want to try recreating elements from both of them myself.
Those prawns were HUGE